Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Strikes Amazon Prime Alliance

The relationship between the Washington Post and Amazon.com has gotten a bit closer.

The paper announced today that users of Amazon Prime will get to read Washington Post stories for free for the next six months and will be offered heavily discounted subscription rates thereafter.

Jeff Bezos

The Wall Street Journal

The arrangement is another step in the alliance of the two companies that started in 2013 when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Post for $250 million. The paper had been bundled together with Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets in the past, but making it available on Prime will potentially give the paper exposure to a much larger audience.

“Offering free access to new subscribers through Prime allows us to connect with millions of members nationwide who may not have tried The Post in the past,” said Steve Hills, the Post’s president and general manager.

The move comes as many publishers — new digital outlets and traditional news organizations alike — have been scrambling to come up with strategies that best take advantage of fast-growing digital platforms.

Dozens of publishers, including The Wall Street Journal, have signed on to make their content available on Apple News, which launched today. Many others, such as The New York Times and BuzzFeed, have been preparing for the hard launch of Facebook’s Instant Articles initiative, which is expected to come soon. And Snapchat has attracted several publishers to its Discover news program.

Amazon Prime users will now have six months unlimited access to the Post’s national digital edition. After six months, they will be charged $3.99 a month to keep it, a 60% discount from the regular prices of $9.99.